Question of the Week: 79 - 9/29/2002Have You Switched Pagan Paths?Did you perhaps start out as a Wiccan and now follow a different Pagan or Heathen path/religion? Have you changed from self-identifying as a 'Witch' to something else? If you have changed how you self-identify under the Pagan/Heathen umbrella, why did you change? Did your beliefs change? Did the Pagan/Heathen community change? What do you think of folks who have switched? Is there currently a real shift into more diverse or selective Paths/Religions within the communities? Will Wicca remain the dominant Pagan religion that it now is? Why or why not?

When I first identified as a Pagan I was exposed to mainly wicca and as a very young Pagan I was exposed to a very eclectic form of wicca. As I have learned and grown my beliefs have not changed as much as my practices have. I am learning about many Pagan traditions, in order to widen my knowledge but I am now identifying as a Dianic Wytch. A short time ago I had a small crisis and realised it was the Goddess alone I wanted to dedicate my life to. So I guess I would say the only thing that has changed for me is what I call/name myself, nothing else has. I believe my change from eclectic to Dianic Wicca has helped me connect with the Earth better as a Pagan. I think everyone changes at some points in their life, I just think its up to them how they adapt to it. Link to More info related to this post -- HERE

I haven't change all that much. I call my self a wiccan to most people I talk to. However, I came into the religion for the simple reason that most of the beliefs were my beliefs. I've only changed the name.

Yes, I have changed paths. I consider myself Pagan and a New Ager but also a philosophical Taoist. The rest, as they say, is subject to change without notice.

I also can say, "I was Wiccan before Wicca was cool." I found my way into Wicca in 1991, and began to seriously practice it in 1992.

I come from a very loose Protestant family, where my spirituality was my choice. I made all the choices about what my religion was when I was a kid, I simply stuck to Christianity because my parents were Christian, and I didn't know there were choices beyond the mainstream religions.

I began to look elsewhere for spiritual fulfillment after an especially BAD year, emotionally, and during/after the Harmonic Convergence in 1988, found Tarot. I learned Tarot, then found my way to Crystal work, and eventually New Age thought. From there, I found magick and Wicca.

I'm an 'old school New Ager'.

New Agers get universally bashed these days, and that's a sad thing, because when I began my New Age studies, words like "White Light" and "fluffy bunny" weren't used to refer to practitioners of religious or spiritual thought. While I am one of the first to admit that the New Age has been recently commercalised and turned into an easy way to make money off of gullable people, it wasn't always like that, and many other things have been homogonized into more socially acceptable 'bite size' packaging, not just the New Age and Wicca. I was a telephone Tarot reader as a profession, for instance, before "Miss Cleo" and the "Psychic Network", back when the readers actually used their own tarot cards, and didn't have cheat-sheets and computer Tarot programs.

Over the years, I have studied Paganism, and have read Cunningham, Buckland, Ravenwolf, the Farrars and many others. I have studied a lot of alternative religions from Kemetic Orthodoxy to Asatru. Wicca was never the 'exact fit' it was supposed to be, for me. Thus my seeking. Through this I continued to call myself "Wiccan" primarily so that I had a 'label' if I ever needed one. (Although when I was admitted to the hospital the two times in my life, I was classified as "Other" or "Unknown" even though the first time I put "Wiccan" and the second I put "Pagan")

It is also harder to move away from Wicca than one might think, especially for Solitaries. Many books labeled "Paganism" are actually Wicca. There is very little Pagan oriented information available that doesn't have Wicca as it's basis. This is probably why many people who have found their way into Paganism through Wicca continue to call themselves Wiccan even though they don't feel innately that they identify with this religion.

Those that do decide to look beyond Wicca and Paganism-Wicca are usually finding themselves studying the Eastern Philosophies like Taoism, Buddhism and Zen, or are embarking for completely uncharted territories in personal spirituality.

Right after 9/11, I heard a woman in a department store say she had no sympathy for the people who died in the airplanes on that day. She said that they knew they were about to die and so had plenty of time to "get right with Jesus." So I wrote an article in the newspaper of the junior college I attend, asking for tolerance (tolerance? Should we merely be "tolerated" by some higher class citizens? but I digress)and as example, explained my own beliefs. While I still adhere, kinda, to the basic structure of what I believed then, I am quite embarrassed by some of the specifics. Mainly, the whole "ours is an ancient religion" deal. But also the higher emphasis I placed on magick then (something I rarley even discuss, much less do, anymore). Have I switched "paths"? I suppose you could say that, if we are using the word path as a different concept from religion itself. I was Wiccan/Pagan, now I'm Pagan/Wiccan, if you get what I mean. I've moved quite far from my Ravenwolf beginings, and have gone from misunderstood duotheism (my misunderstanding, not duotheism's) to a better understood polytheism. I no longer believe that all the gods are one God and all the goddesses are one Goddess. Some will say that I am no longer a Wiccan, then. I dont see it that way, but then I can't decide how you are to percieve me.

Marissa (Renton, WA) makes a good point, am I on a Wicca Path or have encountered Wicca on my Path? Do I foresee changing my core beliefs? No. Do I foresee changing my Path in the future? No. Do I foresee wander onto interesting Branches? Yes indeed. We do not choose our paths; our feet are already there when we are born. It's there; it was always there and always will be there. That is the wonder of it all, we experience life, we learn and then we move on. What’s in a name?

I think the whole reason people choose to go on a "path" is because they're searching, and the nature of the search leads them to an inevitably new place. The answer across the board has been that someone started somewhere, usually Christianity, and fell first to Wicca. This happens because Wicca is the most readiy available form of nature-based religion.

But it doesn't/didn't fit. But people-- people like labels, and rather than shed one, they choose to call themselve "eclectic wiccan." And they think it's creative. But what else is there, if you need a label?

And this is my point. I think that in order for the pagan *community* to grow and thrive, we need to shed our resistance to standing on our own, without the safety of a label or a rulebook to follow.

We love nature, we love our Mother. We attune to her in any way we can. The rest in pomp and circumstance.

Very thought-provoking one too. I was raised Christian, Southern Baptist to be specific, and my spiritual journey has been a long and winding one for me to be so young. When I was around 11, my family started going to one of those Evangelical megachurches (you know, with the TV ministry and the radio ministry and the Woman hating ministry, etc). I became "born again" mostly to please my mom, seeing as nothing I did seemed to. It didn't last very long. From that I drifted to agnosticism, to Tibetan Buddhism, to Zen Buddhism, to Wicca, to...Wicca?, to Wicca. Hehe. :) Honestly, I discovered Wicca about 6 years ago, and it definitely jived with where I was spiritually at the time. I don't really place any value in labels, I feel that spirituality is just too complex for a name, but if pressed I would identify as Wiccan. A Hellenic Wiccan, to be specific (not eclectic--there's a shock for you). However, I've always been involved in some degree with the Martial Arts (specifically Jujitsu, and Qi Gong, as well as a smattering of various other styles) and it was really exploring the spiritual side of them that led me to explore alternative spiritualities. I incorporate a lot of that into my spiritual work. Okay, I guess you could fit me into the "Hellenic Wiccan Guerrilla Witch with Eastern influences" box. Admittedly, it's not a very large box, but I kinda like it that way.

The reason I put a question mark in my little personal odyssey sort of segues into the next part of the question. I am a Solitary by choice. I have almost nothing to do with the larger Pagan community anymore, aside from attending the (rare) public circle, and visiting my old mentor/teacher/personal arse-kicker at the shop he works at. Also by choice. Why? I no longer feel I belong there anymore. It's not my world anymore. I've seen a lot of changes in the community since I've been a part of it. Some have been good (we're not just for Samhain anymore, it looks like), many have been terrible. Back to the question mark. These days, I've been questioning whether I can really call myself a Wiccan anymore. My view of Wicca, my definition, the way I connect with it, is so alien to the majority of Wiccans I see around me that it's almost sad. In my opinion, Wicca has been white-lighted, New Aged, fluffybunnyed, made hip, Buffyied, to the point where I find it weary and downright irritating to constantly have to defend it as a serious religious path to "muggles" when a lot of its so-called practitioners don't even see it that way. I'm not saying there is The committment to serious scholarship, devotion, hard work, just plain sweat that I saw when I first started is no longer there in force. The "Wicca" that I'm seeing most often these days is all style, no substance, and it depresses the hell out of me. It's strange, but in a way I almost miss the days when the argument-du-jour I had with other Wiccans was defending my right to call myself a Wiccan and work with the Greek pantheon (believe it or not, I had this one almost daily). It's almost heartening when compared with the arguments I have most often now, where people call me a Fundamentalist because I chose to dedicate myself to a pantheon rather than pick and choose some Gods that sounded cool in my copy of Understanding Wicca in 5 Minutes For Beginners (available at your local Barnes and Noble!) by Earthwind Crystalheart. (A sidenote: I have absolutely no problem with those who choose to become Eclectics, I have problems with people not doing their homework, regardless of how they define themselves.) This isn't to say Ye Olde Crafte o the Wise is hallowed and sacred and should always ALWAYS be taken seriously (and this is my biggest peeve with the New Agey Wiccans, actually). We gotta know when to laugh at ourselves, put things in perspective, and be practical. "Mirth and reverence", grasshoppas. But there's gotta be a balance. The joke isn't really funny unless you get the truth behind it. I think that's lost on a lot of folks.

I guess I also don't feel like I belong anymore because, well, I'm a weirdo. Part of the consequences of the "mainstreaming" of Wicca has been shoving our most colorful folks into the closet, sacrificing them on the altar of Lady Expediency, the most hallowed Goddess of Public Relations. I'm a Goth, something that predates my conscious interest in Wicca. Six years ago, in the open group I studied with, I fit right in. There were plenty of weirdoes. I mean weirdoes in the most positive sense--people who were independent, didn't follow a crowd, thought for themselves and questioned things. Not only marched to the beat of their own drummer, but said "screw it" and picked up the damn drum themselves. And yes, a lot of these people dressed "normally", but they were cool with people's choices. We were there to learn. The last open circle I went to of this group, it was a bunch of Edina Monsoon Pagans (Ab Fab fans will get the joke) worshipping the teacher like some kind of Guru on a commune. They all looked like Young Republicans, and they all looked at me cross-eyed cause I wore black velvet. For goodness sake, people had to be told to turn their cell phones off before the circle was cast. I somehow didn't see this bunch using their $200 athames to roast sausages over the fire pit like we used to do, LOL. I must of missed that memo that said those of us who look like Siouxie Sioux aren't allowed to practice the Craft anymore, cause it makes everyone look bad. :-P WTF did this religion turn into when I wasn't looking? Craft of the PC Yuppie?

Sweet Mama, I didn't mean for this to turn into a rant about everything I can't stand about the community...I think ya'll touched a nerve here. I guess it explained why I'm Solitary. ;) Honestly, me and Wicca have had a love-hate relationship, but I don't see myself leaving it, at least for the time being (Who knows what the Moirae have in store?). One of the reasons I don't shed the Wiccan label is ironically because of a challenge that was issued to me by an Evangelical Christian who was witnessing to me for a while. When I told her I rejected Christianity because the church rejected me, she told me that only a shallow fool accepts or rejects a worldview solely based on who else holds it. Humans are fallible, we all make mistakes. It's not about accepting a church, it's about accepting a relationship. She challenged me to take a look at the philosophy one more time, and make a decision based on that. Well, I think you all know what I chose, but that thought has stuck with me and it taught me an important lesson. The reason I call myself a Wiccan, regardless of how much I might disagree with others who call themselves Wiccan, is because the underlying philosophy still resonates within me as much as it did when I first started to learn about it. It still makes sense to me. The trappings, the people, the perception of it, whatever might change, but that's not what attracted me to it in the first place. What attracted me was the freedom of it, the challenge of it--the answers are within ourselves, and all we need is the courage and determination to seek them out. It's about simultaneously refusing to accept the status quo, and "going with the flow". That will never change for me, whether I keep this label for another six years or move on to something else.

i began my path as a child (beginning at age 7 or so) - i was encouraged by my parents explore and find the path that worked for me. i have traveled from a great variety of Christian sects to New Age teachings to the Rosecrucians to my personal Pagan path. i now call myself an Eclectic Witch, but i am not certain any label really reflects my inner processes.

Has my path changed? Of course. i think that it would be impossible for it NOT to have changed. i am not the same woman i was 15 years ago. How could my spiritual path NOT reflect the changes in my life? Life is change and my spirit changes with my life - which is as it should be.

I started out not sure what I was just knew what I believed... Then I learned about Wicca. I then started learning about Celtic Wicca, mostly... but it still didn't seem to cover it all. I felt as though I had my own version of what worked for me, that I would never be able to describe without sounding like I didn't know what I was talking about. One day I was in a book store and I picked up one of the Wicca Dictionaries and I looked up the types of Wicca. I found that I am easier labeled as Eclectic Wicca (is that spelled right?hehe) Well, since then I feel as though I finally have a place that I belong, but I have yet to come across someone else so titled.

In eight short months, I will be celebrating 30 years since I made the conscious choice to follow the Pagan faith. A copy of Sybil Leek's "Diary of a Witch" (I'm not alone in this) started me on my journey to witchcraft and Paganism. How ever, I lived in a very remote, very small town in a very conservative part of WA state. I could not find the materials needed to advance my knowledge, and witchcraft was not shaping up to my young expectations. In my three decades of journeying, I have sampled a good many Pagan faiths; trying some, staying clear of others, and in the end, just walking the path that speaks closest to my Spirit I was raised by a non-religious father and a devout Catholic mother, with seven siblings to add chaos to the mix. My dad was a logger and took every opportunity to bring us into the woods to learn the ways of the forest. Safety, respect and necessity were his motives but he also imparted a love and affection for these places deep within me. I was also raised with Native neighbors, a reservation was almost in my backyard. I knew their families, always playing with the children. Thus I was exposed to the culture of the First People. As I sit here composing this answer, I have committed my life and soul to the Spirit of the Earth, Gaia for want of a better name. I am considered a shaman by my clan, a brother and friend to those who live and thrive in the wild. I am not Native and do not sing their songs or dance their dances, but I was taught to use their methods in search of my Celtic ancestors. They taught me how to drive but I have to get my own car. I find that we don't really change paths, merely change lanes on the great spiritual highway. Even those who choose Paganism after years of being Christian are just following their true muse at long last. Our Spirit already knows what path we should walk, it just takes courage and a good sense of self-inquiry to get there. I think, in the end, we all go the same direction. We just choose to go there in very different ways. And that is the way the Goddess/Creator meant it to be all along.

i am a pagan practiceing alone and learningt what i can but it is hard to find what i need for imformation at times. i satarted out my life a christian but over time i began feeling more and more attuned with things out side of the chrchs explenation. i was told thing that i was talking about thing the devil did i knew that wasn't true but i looked on one day i found a friend who showed me to the pagan path she taught me almost all i know with her help and encouragement i have expanded my afinity to nature and my abilitys to read minds see the future to a degree and also trasmit and recive energies after learning all this i knew that i was ment to fallow a pagan path and science then i have been doing that to the best of my abilitys. i now know things that allow me to live happier and mor in tune with my surroundings. please feel free to e-mail me comments i'm always looking to talk to another pagan.

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